Loose the Amygdala and never fear again.

Recent studies on one of the most important part of he limbic system, the amygdala, found that these little almond shaped organs located within each side of the temporal lobes can actually have a significant impact on future treatment for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other anxiety conditions.

In an article released last week, a group of scientist from the University of Iowa described of a female adult patient who had an extremely uncommon condition in which her amygdala was destroyed. The patient was not able to experience fear, even after being placed in situations she once loathe of (haunted house, having snakes and spiders placed near her, watching horror films, and talking about life-threatening things). The researchers believe that the reason for her lack of fear was that her amygdala did not function.

The amygdala is known to play a key role in triggering fear reactions, as various studies have concluded. These studies, however, are done on animals. "This study is the first to show that it is also the case in humans," wrote the authors. Daniel Tranel, Ph.D, senior study author, states that their findings may impact how health care professionals will treat patients with PTSD and anxiety disorder. Tranel wrote:

"This finding points us to a specific brain area that might underlie PTSD. Psychotherapy and medications are the current treatment options for PTSD and could be refined and further developed with the aim of targeting the amygdala."

Lead study author, Justin Feinstein, believes that safe and non-invasive ways of diminishing amygdala activity might prove effective in treating PTSD patients.Feinstein said:

"This past year, I've been treating veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from PTSD. Their lives are marred by fear, and they are oftentimes unable to even leave their home due to the ever-present feeling of danger. In striking contrast, the patient in this study is immune to these states of fear and shows no symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The horrors of life are unable to penetrate her emotional core. In essence, traumatic events leave no emotional imprint on her brain."

"Taken together, these findings suggest that the human amygdala is a pivotal area of the brain for triggering a state of fear. While the patient is able to experience other emotions, such as happiness and sadness, she is unable to feel fear. This suggests that the brain is organized in such a way that a specific brain region - the amygdala - is specialized for processing a specific emotion - fear."

"Without our amygdala, the alarm in our brain that pushes us to avoid danger is missing. The patient approaches the very things she should be avoiding, yet, strikingly, appears to be totally aware of the fact that she should be avoiding these things. It is quite remarkable that she is still alive."

"The Human Amygdala and the Induction and Experience of Fear"
Justin S. Feinsteinsend, Ralph Adolphs, Antonio Damasio, Daniel Tranel
Current Biology, 16 December 2010. 10.1016/j.cub.2010.11.042

Pacemaker for the Brain

I was surfing about health and mental illnesses when i found an interesting article from www.medgear.org. It is about a new method for treating depression. It is still in its experimental phase though.

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) using implants is an emerging research frontier in psychiatry and neuromedicine. DBS technique blocks tremors using implants in brain has already been tried on Parkinson’s patients. More than 40,000 Parkinson’s patients worldwide have these implants and have shown positive results. Now scientists are exploring options to manipulate brain circuits with these implants for other illnesses such as chronic depression and obsessive compulsive disorder as well. The idea is to explore whether these implants can act as antidepressant by changing how the basic brain circuitry fires in patients with severe untreatable symptoms.

The brain is a complex and exciting area of research. Mental illnesses such as severe depression and obsessive compulsion disorder have challenged psychiatrists for decades. Chances of cure by medicinal and surgical intervention are thin for many patients. So brain pace-makers, if they do give positive results, will give hope for many to return to normal life. Deep Brain Stimulation or DBS using implants for treating mental illnesses is still in an initial experimental state. Results are being monitored closely.

Human Brain is a sensitive complex area for invasive research. In Parkinson’s affected brain areas have been mapped and wire implants are inserted in particular thalamus area. But such areas are yet to be identified and marked in other mental illnesses. Scientists do have a fair idea and are exploring focus areas for depression patients. But such research, which is largely funded by implant manufacturers and with little government intervention, is totally like blind men exploring an elephant. Manipulating nerve circuits in brain can have immense unimaginable behavourial side effects. Each brain is uniquely wired which makes all of distinct individuals. Scientists must tread carefully. DBS cannot be called successful and viable unless psychiatric patients show marked improvement. Experiments till now have shown patients do respond to the treatment but they are far from cured. These experimental studies are being carried out by teams at the Cleveland Clinic, Brown University, and Belgium’s University of Leuven.

Gottman's Magic Relationship Ratio

Today's Gossip Headline Reads: Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson Splits.

Honestly, the news didn't come as a huge surprise. If you are quite familiar with the Hollywood marriage culture, you must have seen it coming. Hollywood, also called the splitsville, is known to be the Divorce Capital of the world.

Reynolds and Johansson are the latest couple to enter the Hollywood's long list of "divorced" couple. It is really unfortunate for these two love birds because they look good together. I don't know what it is with Hollywood that makes most marriage crumble down so easily. Some say its the long working hours and distance, opportunities for temptation, over inflated ego and a lot more.

The Headline made me wonder about a concept I've came across just recently: Gottman's Magic Relationship Ratio.

According to Gottman, couple who maintain a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions usually succeed more in marriage than those couples who fall below the 1 to 1 ratio. He explained that positive interactions build up "the reservoir of positive feeling". The reservoir of positive feeling is like a filing cabinet into which couples draw "good memories" during rough days.

Gottman did not advise against the idea of conflict because conflict helps couples clear the air and work out grievances. Conflict is actually crucial to success, it can be unhealthy for couples to hold in their negative opinions, according to Gottman.

If this is true, I hope all couples will have a chance to learn about this at one point in their married life.

10 Things to Say (and 10 Not to Say) to Someone With Depression

Do you know someone with depression? Health.com has release a list of things to say and not to say to someone with depression.

I’m here for you

What to say:
You’re not alone in this.

What NOT to say:
There’s always someone worse off than you are.

You matter

What to say:
You are important to me.

What NOT to say:
No one ever said that life was fair.

Let me help

What to say:
Do you want a hug?

What NOT to say:
Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

Depression is real

What to say:
You are not going crazy.

What NOT to say:
So you’re depressed. Aren’t you always?

There is hope

What to say:
We are not on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another through.

What NOT to say:
Try not to be so depressed.

You can survive this

What to say:
When all this is over, I’ll still be here and so will you.

What NOT to say:
It’s your own fault.

I’ll do my best to understand

What to say:
I can’t really understand what you are feeling, but I can offer my compassion.

What NOT to say:
Believe me, I know how you feel. I was depressed once for several days.

You won’t drive me away

What to say:
I’m not going to leave you or abandon you.

What NOT to say:
I think your depression is a way of punishing us.

I care about you

What to say:
I love you. (Say this only if you mean it.)

What NOT to say:
Haven’t you grown tired of all this “me, me, me” stuff yet?

We’ll get through this together

What to say:
I’m sorry that you’re in so much pain. I am not going to leave you. I am going to take care of myself, so you don’t need to worry that your pain might hurt me.

What NOT to say:
Have you tried chamomile tea?

AUTISM RESEARCH

CNN Reports today that:

Scientists are finding more pieces of the autism puzzle of with the help of MRI scans of brain circuitry, according to a study published Thursday online in the journal Autism Research.

By scanning the brain for 10 minutes using magnetic resonance imaging, researchers were able to measure six physical differences of microscopic fibers in the brains of 30 males with confirmed high-functioning autism and 30 males without autism.

The images of the brains helped researchers correctly identify those with autism with 94 percent accuracy, says Nicholas Lange, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and one of the study authors.

"No one has measured what we measured," says Lange of the MRI test he and Dr. Janet Lainhart from the University of Utah developed.

While previous studies using different types of scans have been able to identify people with autism, Lange says, "no one has looked at it [the brain] the way we have and no one has gotten these type of results."

Lange is quick to caution that this type of test is not yet ready for prime time. "We do not want to give anyone false hopes that this is ready for the clinic yet. This method, this test, needs to be tried [and confirmed] with many more subjects outside our laboratory," he says. Plus, the research needs to be expanded to many more study participants and tried on younger people with autism and those who are not as high-functioning as the subjects in this first trial.

Using the MRI, the study authors measured how the water in the brain flows along the axons or nerve fibers in the parts of the brain that control language, social and emotional functioning. The scans revealed that the wiring of the brains of those with autism was disorganized compared with the brains of a typical person without autism. This is how they could determine which brains scans belonged those study participants with autism.

The study included only males between the ages of 7 and 28 because they were part of a bigger research project at the University of Utah, which is following males with autism for a longer period. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 1 in 110 children in the United States have an autism spectrum disorder and boys are far more likely to have this neurological disorder that affects language and social behavior – that number is about 1 in 70. However future studies will include girls too.

Currently there's no biologic test for autism, so pediatricians look to see if a child is meeting certain developmental milestones as well as signs and symptoms of autism. (The advocacy group Autism Speaks has posted videos to help parents see the signs of autism)

The earlier a child has been identified as having autism, the earlier behavioral therapies can be applied to lessen the impact of the disorder later in life. Lange believes this brain scans can be done on younger children, as long as they can go to sleep in the scanner – on their own, without sedation (because you can't move during the test).

Carissa Cascio, an assistant professor of psychiatry from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who specializes in autism and neuro-imaging, believes these study results are important. But she cautions that using this method as a true diagnostic tool to detect autism in a child is "a long way off." "What this paper seems to be doing is taking the first steps towards parlaying what we are able to glean from brain imaging into potential diagnostic tools."

Zachary Warren, who is the director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), says since there are many types of autism, "it becomes very challenging to capture all these differences with one test." Still he believes this is new study can help pinpoint the earliest markers of concern in developing brains.